Clauson was born in
Ashtabula, Ohio, to parents who were immigrants from Sweden. When he was two, the family returned to live in
Viskafors, Sweden, and William began studying violin and singing at a music
conservatory in
Borås. At the age of six, he returned to the US to live with an uncle in
Covina, California, and began playing the guitar. Four years later, he won the title of "All American Boy" at the
Hollywood Bowl, and began taking occasional small uncredited acting roles in movies including
Abbott and Costello's
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947). According to Clauson, his big break as a performer came when he attended a lecture and concert by
Carl Sandburg, at which Sandburg asked to borrow his guitar and later asked to hear some of Clauson's own songs. Sandburg became his mentor and helped launch his performing career. He became a popular singer in Sweden, appearing regularly on Swedish television and radio. He also toured around Europe, India, Australia, and the Americas, including appearances at
Carnegie Hall in
New York City, and the
Royal Festival Hall in London. and to have helped popularise – and "
He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" which he heard when visiting a church service in
Leesville, Louisiana. He worked extensively in
Mexico with the
Trío Calaveras, becoming known there as "El Charro Guero" (the blond cowboy). Working with song collector Percy Jones, he also performed and popularised many previously forgotten Australian folk songs. He recorded over 40 albums, on a variety of labels. These include
Folk Songs and Ballads (1957),
Click Go the Shears (1960),
Stories in Song (1961),
William Clauson sjunger Carl Michael Bellman (1963), and
William Clauson Sings With His Latin American Trio Los Guaramex (1965). ==Discography==